A consumer watchdog group is accusing Microsoft of monopolistic activity in the browser market after its research showed that a majority of the top Internet service providers and online content providers offer Microsoft's Internet Explorer as their default browser.
San Francisco-based NetAction said Microsoft will further "limit consumer choice" when it begins releasing Windows 98, in which Internet Explorer is fully integrated into the desktop. The organization is using the survey in an ongoing effort to prompt government investigators to further explore alleged antitrust activity by Microsoft and to build consumer antagonism toward the company.
According to the NetAction's canvass, seven of the top twelve ISPs that serve US consumers offer Microsoft's Internet Explorer as the default browser or bundle it with their sign-up packages. The list includes: America Online, MCI, CompuServe, Sprint, PSINet, Prodigy, and AT&T.
Three of the top ISPs - IBM, Netcom, and EarthLink - offer Netscape's Navigator as their default browser or include it as a part of their package, according to NetAction's survey.
Audrie Krause, executive director of NetAction, said the disparity is further evidence of Microsoft's efforts to dominate numerous aspects of the software and Internet market. "This essentially means that consumers have very little choice," said Krause, who publishes an email newsletter called "Micro$oft Monitor.
Microsoft spokesman Mark Murray labeled as "ridiculous" accusations that Redmond has pressured ISPs to offer Explorer instead of Netscape software.
"It's ridiculous to say that consumers can't choose the Navigator," Murray said, noting that Navigator still controls 70 percent of the consumer browser market. "It's available for download at literally tens of thousands of sites."
Murray added of the NetAction survey: "There's no way that the distorted facts in that add up to consumers having less choice."
The release of the NetAction survey comes in the wake of a Federal Trade Commission announcement that it will not launch an antitrust inquiry into Microsoft on grounds that it would merely duplicate Department of Justice efforts.
A Department of Justice spokesperson said Thursday that it already is in the midst of two antitrust investigations of Microsoft: a routine investigation regarding the software company's proposed purchase of WebTV; and a second investigation, the nature of which the spokesperson declined to disclose.
Meanwhile, at least one ISP that bundles Microsoft's Internet Explorer said the activity is not anti-competitive. America Online spokesman Rich D'Amato conceded that AOL promotes the Internet Explorer but he said that users are also free to download Netscape's Navigator. "It's true that Internet Explorer is the default, but you do have a choice," D'Amato said.
